Tim Keller passed away this week, and I just wanted to say a few things about it.
First, his words and writings influenced so many, including me. It would take too long to recount how deeply he nourished my soul, comforted others, encouraged the entire church — but it’s all there.
Second, what impressed me more than his writing, sermons, or all that was his example.
In an age of increasingly confrontational pastors who insert politics into everything, who fight on Twitter, who call each other wolves, who claim you can’t vote for one party or another without abandoning Christ — Keller stood out by staying out.
He was attacked relentlessly by both conservative and progressive Christians who simply couldn’t tolerate the fact he preached Christ and Christ, alone.
And when he was attacked — he never defended himself or responded, in kind.
His humility was remarkable, and that inspired me more than anything.
That’s what the church needs so desperately — both humility within itself and towards the world itself.
Calm but not confrontational.
Truth but never forgetting that the minute we think we’re more righteous than another, we’ve lost it. God hates the self-righteous pride of Christians more than the any other sin.
Judgment begins in our house. And we’ve collectively lost the way.
Keller always pointed to Christ. He was rarely distracted. And we’re always to point to Christ.
Jesus himself was constantly baited by the religious and political types to enter disputes that held “great importance.”
Instead, he demurred and focused on the individual’s heart.
And that is what each of us is to do — work on our hearts, and forget about judging someone else’s.
I fall short so often.
The church falls short so often.
Tim Keller’s grace towards his critics, his refusal to punch back, and his unswerving devotion to living out the love that he saw in Christ — that’s his legacy.
Now he’s with the Lord.
There’s always something so simultaneously jarring about seeing a Christian alive, on this earth, on one day, and then pass to the next world, on the following, where you know they are also alive. More alive than ever. And with Christ.
We will all go through this, and when it’s tough to get through this life, it’s a reminder that an incomprehensibly glorious one lies ahead.
In his classic novel, Diary of a Country Priest, George Bernanos wrote:
“I feel such distress that has forgotten even its name, that has ceased to reason or to hope, that lays its tortured head at random, will awaken one day on the shoulder of Jesus Christ.”
And every individual with a depressive or anxiety disorder, in physical pain or mental pain, and who has struggled to say “Amen” in this life — will then say Amen and see the why for everything.
Thanks, Tim Keller, for your life and pointing us in the direction of Christ and Christ alone for our salvation, and the glories of the next one.
